Wild photos and the tales they tell

Do you do it?

It turns out you are a woodpecker going about your daily routine. That mostly involves checking out the local trees to find tasty bugs. If they are hidden away, you pound a hole in the tree to dig them out.

In the course of your day, you end up on a telephone pole. This is a bit more unusual since the bark has all been cleared off so you have a clear view of the wood. You pull a few bugs out of the large cracks – life is good.

Eventually you come face to face with that interesting moment. You have enough experience to know that the knot is harder than the rest of the wood. There really isn’t any good reason to pound away on it, but still it sits there. Inviting. Taunting.

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We have had one fellow for the past few years who establishes his territory every evening by doing his ’rounds’. First, a pine. Then, the yard-light pole. Then, to the metal rod on the shop. It makes such a glorious sound that carries all over the yard – I don’t know how he deals with the ensuing head-ache… 🙂 Great shots! I have never tried catching one – I haven’t been taking photos for s full year yet – so now that I see this, the challenge is on!!

Beautiful Downy Girl – I think I would not hit the knot – but then again my tongue doesn’t wrap around my brain like a shock absorber – at least that’s what I read on another blog. These birds rate very high on my likabilty scale 🙂

I have a woodpecker in my neighborhood that, for some reason, gets his bell rung by hammering on our metal outdoor light domes. It’s quite a sound echoing through the live oak trees. Can’t imagine the rush he must get from that reverberation.

Some might say that the world (apparently including birds) can be divided into two groups–the haves and the have knots. Nice job setting up your punch line. You drew us in by starting out with the comfortable, familiar view of the woodpecker, visually and verbally, and we followed, unaware that we were being set up.

I suspect that you knew that you would have to write a posting as soon as you saw that second photo–it is crying out for at least a clever caption. The shots are beautiful. I know from experience how hard it is to capture a Downy Woodpecker with such detail.

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